Supreme Court declares K-to-12 program valid

THE government’s K-to-12 program will push through after the Supreme Court declared as constitutional Republic Act 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013.

Under RA 10533, the number of years of basic education was increased to include a year of kindergarten, six years of elementary education and six years of sec-

ondary education–four years junior high school and two years of senior high school.

Also declared legal is Republic Act 10157 or the Kindergarten Education Act that institutionalized kindergarten as part of the basic education and a mandatory requirement to be able to enter Grade 1.

The High Court dismissed all the petitions filed against the said laws for their failure to prove that the laws were in violation of the 1987 Constitution and that the laws were enacted with grave abuse of discretion.

“For having failed to show any of the above in the passage of the assailed law and the department issuances, the petitioners’ remedy thus lies not with the Court but with the executive and legislative branches of the government,” the High Court said in the 94-page decision penned by Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa. Filipino, Panitikan no longer core college subjects

Filipino and Panitikan can now be excluded from the core subjects in tertiary education following the Supreme Court’s decision that declared as valid Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 20 Series of 2013.

Under CMO No. 20, the new General Education Curriculum (GEC) was reduced to a minimum of 36 units. It no longer considers Filipino and Panitikan (Philippine Literature) as core subjects.

Petitioners who are professors from universities and colleges, national artist and lawmakers or the Alyansa ng mga Tagapagtanggol ng Wikang Filipino (Tanggol Wika) said the new curriculum violates Republic Act 7104 (Organic Act of the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino/KWF/ Commission on the Filipino Language), Republic Act No. 232 (Education Act of 1982), and Republic Act No. 7356 (Organic Act of the National Commission on Culture and the Arts/NCCA).

The High Court issued a temporary restraining order against its implementation in 2015. But in its recent ruling that declared as legal the K-to-12 program, the High Court lifted the TRO on its implementation. —